Pregnant tigress brutally killed in Maharashtra

In one of the most shocking incidents of poaching, a tigress with four fetuses in her womb was brutally killed in the jungles of Pandharkawada in Yavatmal district of Vidarbha region of Maharashtra.

The poachers had chopped off both her front paws to extract the claws.

The incident took place in Mukutban ranges – and has shocked the wildlife community and officials.

The crime took place on Sunday and came to light on Monday evening.

Satpuda Foundation’s founder and wildlife conservationist Kishor Rithe brought out the issue before the public and called for strict action against the culprits.

Rithe, a member of the State Board for Wildlife, said this is a horrible incident of death of a tigress that he had never seen in recent times.

It is learned that the tigress was using an underground den that had a small opening.

The miscreants must've seen the tigress entering the hide and blocked the opening with bamboo sticks and other material and put it on fire to suffocate the tigress.

“To ensure her death, they poked the sharp bamboo sticks or metal rods inside the hide which caused further injuries. Not only this, but the criminals also cut her paws after her death. From the crime scene bamboo sticks, clutch wires have been recovered,” he said.

“What is more shocking that the tigress was pregnant and a month away from delivering four cubs which now succumbed to death along with her,” he said.

Rithe said that he had never come across such brutal killing. “The only incident in the past 30 years which I remember was when a tigress was electrocuted in Melghat during 2004 when she had aborted three cubs due to massive electric shock. Today’s incident is crueler. Certainly does not suit the rich tradition of Maharashtra where we worship Maa Durga. We must condemn it,” he said.

Researcher and conservationist Varad Giri said: “We are losing the pride of our nation... A pregnant tigress brutally killed in Yavatmal District, Maharashtra. Heart wrenching episode. Strong actions against culprits are expected.”

As the news came in, Divisional Forest Officer (Wildlife), Pandharkawada, Subhash Puranik, Range Forest Officer, Mukutban, Vijay Ware, Honorary Wildlife Warden. Dr Ramzan Virani, representative of National Tiger Conservation Authority, Delhi and Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife), Nagpur, Prakash Mahajan, visited the spot.

Veterinary doctors Dr Chetan Patond from Pench Tiger Project, Dr Arun Jadhav from Wani, Dr S S Chavan of Zari, Dr D G Jadhav of Mukutban and Dr V C Jagde carried out the post-mortem. The autopsy report is awaited.